Canine transmissible venereal tumour (TVT, also called CTVT or Sticker's sarcoma) is a cancer that spreads between dogs as living tumour cells. The cell itself is the infectious agent, so every TVT in the world belongs to one cell line that began in a single dog thousands of years ago. It usually shows up as a friable, bleeding mass on the penis or vulva of an intact, free-roaming dog, and it is one of the few cancers in dogs that is reliably cured with a single chemotherapy drug.
Key facts
Transmissible venereal tumor (TVT) at a glance- Species and system: dogs; mainly external genitalia, also nose, mouth, skin and eye.
- Cause: clonal transplantation of viable tumour cells across damaged mucosa, mostly at mating, also by licking, sniffing, biting and dam-to-pup contact.
- Classic presentation: intact, roaming or recently imported dog with a cauliflower-like, ulcerated, easily bleeding genital mass and bloody genital discharge.
- Cytology: discrete round cells with moderate cytoplasm containing multiple clear vacuoles, coarse chromatin and one or two prominent nucleoli; mitoses frequent.
- Treatment of choice: vincristine 0.025 mg/kg IV once weekly, continued for 2 weeks after the gross tumour has disappeared.
- Behaviour: metastasis is uncommon (about 5%), mostly to regional lymph nodes.
- Zoonotic or reportable: no. It is a canid tumour; humans are not affected.
What's inside
12 sections in the full guide- Key facts
- How the NAVLE tests this
- Cause and pathophysiology
- Clinical signs
- Diagnosis
- Differential diagnoses
- Treatment and management
- Prevention, control and public health
- Prognosis
- Quick review
- Test yourself
- References
The full guide also has 4 tables, 3 figures, 3 self-test questions and 13 references, available to NAVLE members.
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